What’s the best way for someone busy to learn lots of new words quickly for a test like the GRE? Looking up their origins can help. Or, record yourself reading the words and definitions and play them back while you’re doing other chores. • Book...
Of all the letters in the alphabet, which two or three are your favorites? If your short list includes one or more of your initials, that’s no accident. Psychological research shows we’re drawn to the letters in our name. • If you doubt that people...
A woman in Cheyenne, Wyoming, says her mom used to refer to the cloudy scum that sometimes forms atop vinegar as mother. The term has been around at least 500 years, and can refer to the scum on the top or sediment on the bottom. It’s also used as a...
The words we choose can change attitudes — and change lives. A swing-dance instructor has switched to gender-neutral language when teaching couples. He says that using words like “leader” and “follower” actually works better than using gendered...
In a discussion our Facebook group, a woman shares her mother-in-law’s favorite expression for fudging her age. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Fudging Your Age” We were talking earlier about euphemisms for age, not saying exactly...
A San Diego, California, man says that when he got into trouble as a boy, his mother would say, “You lie like a rug and you hang like a cheap curtain.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Lie Like a Rug and Hang Like a Curtain” Hello...